Tales of Leo: Patience
by TMNTfan1
Summary: Ok, I'm new to this site but I love writing stories. This story would've taken place in the episode Tales of Leo from the 2003 TMNT series. It has my OC Kayla, who is the adopted little sister of the turtles. She is human and I will probably write a story later on about how they found her. Hope you like it :)


Kayla listened as, one by one, her brothers all told their own tales of Leo from their childhood. As Raph told his story Kayla had been biting her lip and squeezing her eyes shut, trying to hold back tears. Seeing Raph; the hotheaded, short-tempered one of the family; cry was enough to make nearly everyone in the room cry, too.

As Raph pulled away from Master Splinter's comforting and went to stand by the window alone Kayla turned her attention to her oldest brother. Leo was lying unconscious on the couch, his breathing shallow with bruises covering his whole body. _Why can't you just wake up already!? _Kayla silently shouted at her brother.

"Why can't he just wake up?" Mikey whined, as if reading his sister's thoughts. Kayla looked at him thoughtfully before glancing back at Leo. Thinking for a moment she took a deep breath and spoke.

"We just have to be patient. Leo will wake up when he's ready." Everyone in the room looked at her as she walked over to the couch and knelt down beside her brother.

"Hey, Leo," she started, forcing her voice to remain steady, "I know you're going to wake up when you're ready. The rest of us just need to be patient. I should know. You're the one who taught me all about patience. Remember when I was about eight years old and Master Splinter told me it was time to work on hitting moving targets with my bow and arrows?"

_FLASHBACK_

"_At first I thought it'd be easy. I mean, I'd mastered hitting a target, so how hard could hitting a moving target be? But even after about a hundred tries I still hadn't even come close to hitting one of the targets."_

_Kayla threw her bow down in frustration. _

"_Giving up already?"_

_Kayla turned around to see Leo standing in the doorway leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Kayla quickly turned away, she didn't want him to see how frustrated she was. "I'm not giving up." she lied._

"_That's good," Leo answered, "because learning something new takes time. A lot longer than just a few hours."_

"_But I'm not learning something new!" Kayla protested, "I know how to shoot a bow and arrow! Shell, I've been doing it for almost three years! I could hit a target in my sleep!" _

"_I know you could." Leo agreed, pushing off the wall and moving to stand in front of her, "I'd stake my life on it. But being able to hit a target that's MOVING is a little bit more challenging."_

"_But I just don't get why it's so hard!"_

_Leo was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Do you remember how long it took you to be able to hit the center of a still target every time?"_

_Kayla thought for a moment. "Almost two years. Why?"_

"_Well, if it took you two years to learn how to hit a target with your bow and arrow it may take quite a bit of time to hit one that's moving."_

"_It won't take me another two years will it?!" Kayla's eyes widened and her shoulders drooped._

"_I highly doubt it," Leo said with a chuckle in his voice as he placed a hand on his sister's shoulder, "but it may take at least a few months. But I know it will be worth it."_

_Kayla looked at the ground for a moment before looking back at the course Donnie had set up for her to practice. All she had to do was pull a rope that sent a series of target cushions swinging from ropes in front of her. He'd built to so she could practice alone, but it didn't seem to be helping much._

_As if Leo could read her mind he leaned back against the wall thoughtfully and asked, "Do you think it would be easier if you had someone to practice with?"_

_Kayla rolled her eyes. "Hate to burst your bubble, bro, but you're not the archer of the family. I am. When I need to know how to use two katanas I'll give you a call." _

_Leo chuckled and shook his head. "That's not exactly what I had in mind." he said as he pulled a target cushion from behind his back and held it up for Kayla to see. _

_Kayla put her hands on her waist and cocked her head a little to one side. "And just how is one more target supposed to help me?" she asked sarcastically. _

"_Like this." Leo said as he pulled straps over his shoulder so that the target rested on his shell like a backpack. "Think you can hit it?" he asked Kayla with a mischievous glint in his eyes._

_Kayla smirked at her oldest brother. "Alright, fine. I'll give it a shot." _

_The two spent almost three hours of Leo racing and jumping back and forth in an empty section of the sewer while Kayla tried to hit the target on his back. In that amount of time she only managed to get a single arrow on the edge of the target. _

"_I can't believe I still can't get it." Kayla complained as she kicked a small rock in front of her as the two headed back home. "I was really hoping it would work."_

"_Look at it this way," Leo interjected, " you did manage to hit the target, which is more than you could get earlier. Right?"_

"_Yeah, I guess." Kayla smiled a little. _

"_Like I said earlier, Kay, it's going to take some time. You just need to be patient." Leo rested his hand on her shoulder comfortingly._

"_Yeah." Kayla thought for a moment. It was hard to believe Leo was only eleven years old, he always seemed so…wise. "Hey Leo? Can we do this again tomorrow?" Kayla turned to look up at her brother with her big, brown eyes. "Please?" _

_Leo smiled down at her and ruffled her long, black hair like he always did. "You bet."_

"_We worked on it everyday for almost two months, each day I was getting better and better. Finally, one day I managed to hit the center of the target every single time. It took a lot of time and a lot of patience, but like you'd told me it was worth it."_

_END OF FLASHBACK_

"So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, back then you taught me how to be patient, just like you taught me so many other things," Kayla bit her bottom lip for a moment as she looked down at her bruised and battered brother, her eyes starting to sting, before continuing, "and I need you here to keep teaching me those things. I need you to pull through, Leo." Kayla's voice cracked as she spoke her brother's name and she felt tears begin to slide down her face. She lowered her head until her forehead rested on Leo's arm so her brothers, her father, April, and Casey couldn't see her cry. Tears began streaming down her face and she bit her lip to keep back her sobs.

She felt three hands come to rest on her back and shoulders. She could tell that it was her three other brothers by the fact that each hand had three fingers. She knew they were trying to comfort her, but at that moment she didn't want to be comforted. So she stood and pulled away from her family as she left the room and went upstairs. When she came to the top of the stairs she sat on the ground and hugged her knees. Then she rested her head on her knees and continued to cry alone


End file.
